* Stocks, dollar slip as risk appetite fades
* Gold priced in sterling hits highest since Sept. 2013
* Coming up: FOMC meeting June 14-15
* GRAPHIC-2016 asset returns: http://reut.rs/1WAiOSC
(Updates prices; adds comment, second byline, NEW YORK
dateline)
By Marcy Nicholson and Jan Harvey
NEW YORK/LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - Gold rose for the
fourth straight session and hit its highest since mid-May on
Monday, driven by rising investor risk aversion before central
bank meetings this week and Britain's June 23 vote on whether to
leave the European Union.
The pound GBP= fell to a two-month low against the dollar,
pushing gold denominated in sterling XAUGBP=R to its highest
in nearly three years at 909.83 pounds an ounce, up 1.9 percent.
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.6 percent at $1,281.96 an ounce at
2:58 p.m. EDT (1858 GMT), off an earlier peak of $1,287. U.S.
gold futures GCv1 for August delivery settled up 0.9 percent
at $1,286.90 an ounce.
Fading expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike have
driven prices sharply higher so far this month. Gold has rallied
6 percent since U.S. payrolls data for May came in weaker than
expected on June 3, crushing expectations for an interest rate
hike over the summer.
"Following the labor market report a Fed rate hike has been
priced out for June and July, and at the same time it seems as
if odds for the UK to leave the European Union have come back up
again," Danske Bank analyst Jens Pedersen said.
"Those two factors are benefiting gold."
Fears Britain is on the verge of voting to leave the
European Union next week spread through global financial markets
on Monday, sending global stock markets lower. The dollar .DXY
fell 0.2 percent against a basket of major currencies.
MKTS/GLOB
"Gold has fluctuated in line with the Brexit opinion polls,
even dislocating it from its usual primary link with the U.S.
dollar," Citi said in a note on Monday.
The Fed, Bank of England, Swiss National Bank and Bank of
Japan will all meet this week, and are expected to hold monetary
policy steady.
UBS Chief Investment Office Wealth Management Research said
in a note that it has gone overweight platinum and underweight
gold, each by 2 percent. It said it is capitalizing on firmer
industrial activity in platinum while eyeing negative short-term
catalysts for gold, such as the market's "overly pessimistic"
pricing of U.S. rates and expectations for the U.S. dollar
weakness to reverse.
On Friday, holdings in the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares GLD , rose to the
highest since October 2013.
Among other precious metals, silver XAG= was up 0.1
percent at $17.34 an ounce, while platinum XPT= was down 0.6
percent at $984.53 an ounce and palladium XPD= was 0.8 percent
lower at $538 per ounce.